Nut gatherer



United States Patent=- O NUT GATHERER v 7 Ella C. Weathersby,Hattiesburg, Miss. I Application February 15, 1954, Serial No. 410,377

Claims. (Cl. 56-328) The present invention relates to an improved devicethrough the medium of which a user may walk over a ground covered withnuts and while doing so, may con- "venien tly pick up nuts, gather thesame in a bag of reas'o'nably limited capacity,. and then dump or emptythe same' into a shoulder-type sack or an equivalent container.

"It a matter of common knowledge to those familiar with the prior artthat many and varied patents have been issued on devices for picking upobjects while in a standfin g position, these being often referred to aspickups for golf balls, table tennis balls, walnuts, etc. 'It isalso amatter of common knowledge that prior art pickup de- *vices have to dowith an elongate handle, a collecting receiver of one type or another onthe lower end portion of thehandle, said receiver having an entranceopening for the articles to be picked up and means of one type oranother being associated with or spanning the en- "trance opening andbeing responsive to the articles picked I up and serving to hold thearticles once they are trapped. The present invention has to do with aconstruction which is characterized by a receiving and accumulating baghaving an intake opening or a so-called mouth at the bottom, suitablehandle means being provided for the bag, and a novel trapping device.which is here referred to as a pressure responsive pickup cage. T-"T'More specifically, the improvement has to do" with a pecan gathererwhich is characterized by a receiving and accumulating bag of elongateform having an intake mouthat' its bottom and an elongated sleeve-likeportion i joined at one end to the top portion of said bag-and graduallytapering in cross-section and defining "a flexible snout-like emptyingfunnel for cooperation withya sepa- -*rate shoulder sack or similarcontainer, pressure responaasive pickup members operatively mounted insaid bag withcertain of said members registering with, spanning andproviding an expansible and contractible grille for the otherwise fullyopen mouth and a trapping cage for the gathered nuts, andhandle-equipped means operatively connected with said cage.

What is more, novelty is predicated on the structural assemblage brieflycomprehended above and wherein the means referred to is characterized byan endless metal or equivalent frame, a bail whose arms are aflixed tothe frame, said bail being provided with a manipulating handle, themembers which go to make up the cage being U-shaped and having limbs andsaid limbs being handily attached to the frame.

Other objects, features and advantages will become more readily apparentfrom the following description and the accompanying sheet ofillustrative drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate likeparts throughout the views:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a nut gatherer or bagging deviceconstruction in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view in section and elevation the direction ofthe arrows;

2,736,157 etente i l 281195 "ice .2 w, 7 taken on the verticalline"2 2of' Figure 'l, looking in Figure 3 is a horizontal section also onan'enlarg'ed scale taken on the line 33f"of Figureflflooking in thedirection of the arrows; j

Figure 4 is a view of the bottom portion ofthe device shown in Figure 2,with parts broken away and shown in section, showing the manner in whichtheiresilient .U- shaped members spread apart to respond to and pick upa nut; 3,

- Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional and ele- 'vational viewshowing certain of the-details,said view being taken approximately onthe line 5+5 of. Figure 3;

and

Figure 6 is an enlargedfragment'ary perspective" view, with parts brokenaway and'shown' in section, illustrating other details in theover-all'const'ruction.

Referring now. to the drawings, and with reference first to the partwhich is herein described as the"bag; this is denoted, in a unitarysense,by the numeral 8." It comprises a slender, cloth or equivalentreceiving and gathering bag, the body portion of which'isgdenoted'at 10.The

' bottom portion 12 is formed-with a'central substantially V-shapedopening which is; broadly referred to as a substantially elongated mouth14L The marginal'edges of the mouth are formed intohems 16 which servein the manner to be further described. The stitchings of: the hems aredenoted at 18 in Figure l.' glt is desirable to trap the nuts or otherarticles in this bag'byway of the mouth and to empty the same from timeto time in a shoulder sack or an equivalent carryingf and'transporh ingcontainer (not shown). It is therefore desirable .to provide the instantbag with an' emptying neck and the latter is also elongated and ofgeneralsnoiit-like form, as

denoted at 20. The restricted dischargegopening 22 serves to permit theneck to bebent in any'suitable direction and to funnel the nuts into ahandily arranged shoulder sack.

Means is provided on the interior of the bag which serves to pick up andtrap'and-tem'porarilyhold the nuts. This may be convenientlygdesignated,it is" believed, as a wire cage. The cage is made up of a plurality of"spaced parallel resilient U-shapedwire members denoted by the numerals24. The limb portions 26 have upper laterally directed ends 28 (seeFiguref6) which are fitted into keeper holes or openings providedtherefor, ,as' at 30, in an ovate endless band-'Orframe SZ. More;specifically, bracing and clamping meansisprovided here, -'and, to thisend, I provide 'apair'of substantially horseshoe shaped clamps which aredenoted by they numerals 34; They are arranged on the interior of theband or frame -and have keeper notches 36 to accommodate the laterallybent ends of the limbs of the U-shaped members. The centrally disposedU-shaped members have their rounded bight portions 38 extending throughand beyond the mouth of the bag where they provide pressure responsivemembers which spread apart, take in the nuts and then spring together inan obvious substantially automatic manner.

With reference to Figure 5, it will be seen that the horseshoe-shapedclamps are held in place by bolts 40 as clearly depicted, and thesebolts operate in slots 42 provided therefor in the band or frame, thethreaded ends of the bolts passing through the respective end portionsof the clamps and being provided with thumb nuts, as at 44. Thisprovides a convenient manner of assembling and combining the parts intoa satisfactory cage structure. It is further to be pointed out that atleast two of the U-shaped members 24 are fastened in the aforementionedhems 16, as illustrated best in Figure 4. This provides the ways andmeans of joining the cage with the bag and also forms a sort of openableand closable grille ass-.14 the mouth of the bag. The handle, which isused in a standing position, is denoted by the numeral 46, and it has aferrule 48 joined with a shank 50 carried by an inverted U-shapedvbail.52 Whose arms 54 straddle and are connected to the respectivediametrically opposite end portions of the frame. The upper end of thehandle "extends through an opening 56 in the bag where it is by way ofthe snout-like neck into a shoulder sack or the like. Obviously, thisdevice is simple, practical, en-

sures handy and rapid gathering of nuts and virtually eliminatesstooping.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will bereadily understood and further explanation is believed to beunnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art,it is not desired to limit theinvention to the exact construction shown and described, andaccordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be restortedto, falling within the scope of the appended claims. 1

What is claimed as newis as follows:

1. A nut gatherer comprising, in combination, a nut receiving andaccumulating bag of elongate form having an intake mouth at its bottomportion and a cornplemental elongated sleeve-like extension at its topportion and gradually tapering in cross-section and defining a flexiblesnout-like bag emptying funnel for cooperation with a separate shouldersack or similar container, pressure responsive pickup membersoperatively mounted in said bag with certain of said members registeringwith, spanning and providing an expansible and contractible grille forthe otherwise fully open intake mouth and a trapping cage for thegathered nuts, and handle-equipped means operatively connected with saidcage.

2. A nut gatherer comprising, in combination, a nut receiving andaccumulating bag of elongate form having an intake mouthat its bottom,pressure responsive means embodying pick-up members operatively mountedin said bag with certain of said members registering with, spanning andproviding an expansible and contractible grille r for the otherwisefully open mouth of said bag and a trapping cage for the gathered nuts,and handle-equipped means operatively connected with said cage.

3. The structure defined in claim 2, wherein said means embodies anendless frame, a bail fixed on said frame, a handle joined to said bail,said members being U shap'ed and having limbs joined to said frame.

4. A nut gatherer comprising a cloth bag in which the nuts are gatheredand accumulated and later on dumped into a larger sack or the like, saidbag having an elongate slot at the bottom forming a mouth, the marginaledges of said mouth having lengthwise hems, a cage structure comprisinga frame and a plurality of U-shaped wire members having limbs attachedto and depending from said frame, the majority of said members beingconfined in said bag, and certain of said members having their bightportions registering and cooperating with said mouth, at least two ofthe bight portions of said members being attached to the bag by way ofthe adjacent respective .hems, a handle, and means connecting saidhandle with said frame.

5. A nut gatherer comprising, in combination, a cage structurecomprising an endless rigid frame, a plurality of spaced normallyparallel U-shaped wire members having cooperating bight portions andopposed coplanar limbs, said limbs beingresilient, said limbs havingfree end portions fastened to said frame and thus defining theaforementioned cage, the bight portions of the respective U-shapedmembers cooperating in providing an expansible and contractible grill,certain cooperating U-shaped members having their adjacent bightportions adapted to spread apart to permit nuts to be picked up andcollected in the cage, a handle secured to said frame and extending froma side of the frame opposite to that on which and from which saidU-shaped members extend,' an d a complemental nut receiving andaccumulating bag having a slotted portion at the bottom attached to andcooperating with certain of the bight portions of the U-shaped members,the remainder of the bag being imperforate and enclosing and encasingthe essential portion of the U-shaped members, the top portion of saidbag extending beyond said frame and encompassing a portion of saidhandle and being restricted in cross-section to facilitate dumpingaccumulated nuts from the cage and bag.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS BagleyFeb; 6, 1951 4 are

